Includes index.

Part One. The emerging Kennedy -- The man -- The senator -- The politician -- Part Two. The Kennedy Candidacy -- The contender -- The primaries -- The convention -- The campaign -- The margin -- Part Three. The Kennedy presidency -- The beginning -- The Kennedy team -- The early crisis : the Bay of Pigs -- The press -- The public -- Part Four. President Kennedy and the nation -- The Congress -- The man in the White House -- The fight against recession -- The fight against inflation : the steel price dispute -- The fight for equal rights -- Part Five. President Kennedy and the world -- The olive branch -- The world leader -- The Berlin crisis -- The arrows -- The continuing crises -- The confrontation in Cuba -- The strategy of peace.

Recollections of the late President by his Special Counsel. Covering the 1953-63 period, this is a "portrait of Kennedy's emergence into political maturity and of his increased knowledge of the country, of world affairs, of his own abilities and of administrative tactics as he fought the tough political battles of 1956-1960. Most of all, the book shows the man at work in the Presidency."